State Farm gives notice: Make homes defensible!

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DENVER (AP) - State Farm is giving 21,000 homeowners in high
risk wildfire zones in Western states two years to make their homes
defensible or risk losing insurance coverage.
State Farm, the nation's largest home insurer, will provide
advice to homeowners in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada
and Wyoming on how to make their homes safer, said Steve Niccolai,
the insurance company's commercial underwriting supervisor.
Homes in the very highest-risk areas will be inspected and
owners of homes that need work done will be advised by letter.
Company officials will work with customers to avoid the need to
cancel insurance.
"The last thing we want to do is lose any customers. We want to
keep our State Farm customers but we want to teach them that they
can live where they want to live and make it safer," Niccolai
said.
Last year, the Hayman fire southwest of Denver burned 132 homes.
Niccolai said 62 of those were lost because brush hadn't been
cleared around them.
Other insurance companies also are becoming stricter about
issuing new policies for homes in such areas because of the
increasing wildfire threat, said Carole Walker, executive director
of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
We've been telling people for years that they need to protect
themselves," she said.
Foresters have long pressed insurance companies to require
homeowners to clear brush and trees near homes and use
fire-resistant building materials, especially on roofs.
In the past, insurance companies didn't have enough information
to identify areas with the highest risk but state foresters now
provide detailed maps, Niccolai said. Illinois-based State Farm can
compare the risk maps with its own data on where its customers
live.
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On the Net:
State Farm: http://www.statefarm.com
Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association:
http://www.rmiia.org/Site-Map.htm

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) - Forest residents who don't reduce
wildfire danger by clearing the brush around their homes risk
losing their homeowners insurance.
State Farm insurance, Arizona's largest homeowner provider,
plans to check every policyholder's home to ensure there is
sufficient defensible space.
Customers who don't comply with State Farm's recommendations
face non-renewal of their policies, which could lead to higher
policy costs when they seek coverage elsewhere.
Local fire officials support the insurance company's actions.
"It's been a way of saving homes by reducing fuels," said Al
Bates, who chairs the Prescott Area Wildland/Urban Interface
Commission. "We've been preaching that for 15 years."
State Farm hopes to start the inspections by July and focus on
homes that are most prone to wildfires such as the Prescott Basin,
said spokesman Jim Kriznauski.
Officials plan to give homeowners up to two years to satisfy the
requirement.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)